Tag Archives: foreign policy

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein has had a tough year. Since January his “charity” has made little headway in his attacks on Christians in the military. Weinstein has apparently struggled to find stories or those willing to complain — with the result that both he and his verbose research assistant Chris Rodda have been uncharacteristically quiet.

The religious environment in the military is so “bad,” in fact, that Weinstein is now relegated to “representing” people in government who are “uncomfortable”:

According to Weinstein, [intelligence] agency employees don’t want to go public with their complaints because of fear of retribution or being labeled as “leakers.”… But certain things are making them especially uncomfortable, such as officials signing off with the phrase “have a blessed day.”

That’s Jenna McLaughlin’s take at Foreign Policy last week, where she Read more

According to Gordon Lubold, writing at Foreign Policy and repeated at theStars and Stripes, the US Air Force is concerned about the “possible exodus” of military pilots to an ever-enticing private sector:

Over the next year, the commercial airline industry is going to begin hiring tens of thousands of new pilots as aging flyers retire and the industry regains its economic footing. That could put dark clouds in the way of the Air Force’s wild blue yonder as it tries to persuade pilots to stay in a service even as top officials worry that pilots don’t have enough yoke time.

In a recent book chapter, Dan Hughes, a retired Air War College professor, launched an emotionally charged diatribe against the Air War College and Air University of which it is a part…

According to Hughes, the school is run by a group of bottom-tier, anti-intellectual, Christian evangelical, Rush Limbaugh-addicted colonels who have created an institution lacking in basic academic rigor and standards.

Both Hughes and Andres indicate they were Air University professors. For his part, Andres admits there is some credence to Hughes’ general criticisms (“politics and religion aside”). The larger debate focuses on the overall value of the military schools. Andres’ main point is Hughes mischaracterized the bigger struggle ongoing at Air University: that between often liberal-leaning civilian faculty and more conservative-leaning military faculty and students:

Beyond prizing academic rigor and hoping to avoid contact with policy, academics generally share a common professional mindset that is somewhat left of center, dislikes evangelical Christianity, and views the military with distrust.

Most interesting, however is a somewhat chilling story about the intentional targeting of religious beliefs: Read more